Reviews

Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

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leeakolb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

lootgoblin's review against another edition

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3.0

http://readfantasybooks.wordpress.com

Plot

Toll the Hounds was the most difficult for me to get through of all the Malazan Books so far. It dragged quite a bit in many parts and I will honestly say that this book didn't become really interesting until about the last four chapters. Having to read several hundred pages before being engaged in a book is rather disappointing.

An interesting aspect of the book was being inside Dragonpuir. That was pretty neat! There are several battles towards the end, and I will say that some amazing characters were lost in this book and I am very upset about it!

Characters

Most of the characters are interesting, especially the ones we already know. Karsa and Samar Dev are back in this novel and spend it traveling with Traveler (big reveal about him in the last few chapters). I also love Barathol Mekhir as well as all the long lost Bridgeburners who retired a few books back. We finally get to see them again and their story is pretty entertaining. I also enjoyed reading about Rake, but not until the very end of the book. I can say that having Hood materialize was pretty awesome and the showdown between him and Rake was so cool!

Writing

The writing was till as good as ever, but the plot moved bit to slowly in my opinion. I'm actually a little fed up with the series being so difficult to comprehend. There are still some parts where I'm like "what did I just read?" and have to go back over it again. I have such a difficult time trying to interpret some of the vague and unclear conversations some of the characters have. Also, I felt like the book could have been a little shorter. I hate to admit it, but I actually skimmed some parts containing characters I don't like reading about, and still figured out everything at the end.

Overall Thoughts

I think you should read this book just to get to the end of the series. I have come this far so I will keep going! Despite the ending being so fantastic, I have to give the book 3 stars because I wouldn't read this particular one again and it should have held my attention from the very beginning. Everyone has their own opinion and I am sure others will like this book more than me. I have read some other reviews and some people chose this as their favorite book, so just depends on what you like in a book. Also, I recommend reading this and all other books with a group so you can discuss it or if by yourself, maybe just reading a chapter a day in order to get full enjoyment out of it. This is one series that you just can't rush through.

ellimtt's review against another edition

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5.0

First read June 2022, 4⭐️
Second read February 2024, 5⭐️

penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition

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4.0

So far in this series I've really liked the world building but character decisions are often frustrating to read. The way that the setting draws on it's own past and pulls those threads together is cool.

Like how the world is built on the aftermath of the First Empire, the Imass-Jaghut wars, the Tiste invasions and other events piling up in the present. There's one particular scene in here where they find fossils in a mine and the characters that find them thinks they're ghost or demon bones but the readers recognize them as being from this saber toothed tiger thing that was around in the time of the Imass.

And it's interesting to see how Shadowthrone's and Rake's machinations pile up in Darujhistan. And things (mostly) make sense. I've been told that the books make more sense on a re-read or everything takes on new significance but good heavens some dumb decisions were made.

See? I can't even do a positive review without complaining.